All posts tagged Mayer Hawthorne

Mayer Hawthorne understandably met with some head scratching when his debut album, “A Strange Arrangement,” landed on the scene two years ago. He was a 30-year-old white guy singing R&B songs he’d written and produced in a vintage Motown style. No winks. No irony. Incongruous, sure, but people got over it, and Hawthorne found an audience, one that expanded last summer when he opened concerts for a couple bigger retro pop stars, Janelle Monae and Bruno Mars.

This week Hawthorne released a follow-up album, “How Do You Do.” The set expands on his original formula and features baby-making music (“Get To Know You”), Hall & Oates-style snap and polish (“No Strings”), and a rally song for his native Detroit (“A Long Time”). Hawthorne did make some changes, including a jump from indie hip-hop label Stones Throw Records to a major, Universal Republic. He also learned to sing, as he explained in a recent phone call from Los Angeles. A minor earthquake had just happened, but Hawthorne hadn’t felt a thing. Read More »

As artists like Usher, Ne-Yo and other continue to push the boundaries of contemporary r&b with to-the-minute pop culture references and futuristic production, a small contingency of performers are quietly, steadily working to preserve and more importantly, push forward the sound and feel of classic soul. In the case of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, El Michels Affair and Budos Band, they’re protecting the legacy of artists like James Brown, Otis Redding and The Meters. Simultaneously, Mayer Hawthorne is creating music that perfectly evokes the dulcet tones and incisive poetry of late 1960s and early ‘70s Motown, while giving it a modern sheen that makes it feel truly timeless.

Hawthorne’s debut, “A Strange Arrangement,” arrived in stores in late 2009, and its critical and commercial success has slowly built a following for the young performer, who started his career as a DJ and musician. Speakeasy caught up with Hawthorne (real name: Andrew Cohen) via telephone last week, a few hours before he took the stage in Salt Lake City, Utah, and in addition to discussing the final days of his tour, which ends Friday in Los Angeles, he talked about the technical and artistic challenges of creating his modern-classic sound, and combating the easy labels assigned to music that frequently defies them. Read More »

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